Pear Garage

Pear Garage @ Stanford is a highly selective opportunity for entrepreneurial Stanford students (undergraduate, graduate, and postdocs) to turn their ideas and/or projects into iconic companies.

Garage was founded with the mission to expose Stanford students to real industry problems and provide mentorship and resources. We believe that surrounding students with our network of founders, portfolio companies, executives and thought leaders, is a great way to give hands-on experience that will complement their classroom learnings.

Garage is NOT an incubator/accelerator, and NO EQUITY is exchanged. Moreover, there is no obligation to pursue a project once the Garage ends. There are no strings attached! We are hoping to get together a group of amazing people that want to be part of a vibrant community and take their passions and projects to the next level.

HOW GARAGE WORKS

You can apply with just an idea, as a team, or an individual (you do not need to have a fully form product or prototype, and can be in ideation phase).

We take applications on a rolling basis, but to be part of the first group and get the most out of this opportunity, and begin in the Fall quarter, you should apply by October 15, 2016. The program kicks off October 26, and ends April 15, 2017. Based on a participant’s interest to continue the project and progress, some teams are offered opportunities to continue through the summer as part of our Summer LaunchPad.

The time commitment expected during this session is flexible–you will get as much out of the program as you put in! We realize there are finals, breaks, and other commitments, and that your time is heavily dependent on that. We will make ourselves availalbe to you as mentors and commit to one hour 1:1 meetings with you (or the team) on a bi-weekly basis (and more if and when needed).

WHAT GARAGE OFFERS

Here is what you will get from being part of Garage:

Office Space: The “Hacker Studio” at our office (located in downtown Palo Alto, CA) is always open if you need a place off campus as a drop-in workspace.

Mentorship: Dedicated 1:1 biweekly meetings with the Partners at Pear. We will also make strategic introductions to our network based on your needs and goals, for additional support, guidance, and advice.

Project Stipend: We will reimburse each project up to $1,500 for expenses directly related to building and growing the idea (i.e., Facebook ads, equipment purchases, etc.)

Founder Resources: We have over $50K worth of free resources from our strategic partners, such as credits from AWS, Google Cloud, Rackspace, discount legal assistance from our legal partners, as well as special deals with FbStart, Balsamiq, and many other tools.

Founder Forums: We have a dedicated forum that contains links and articles to useful tools and educational content for your company. This is also a virtual platform for asking questions and creating discussions with other founders in our community and from our portfolio companies.

Speaker Series: We host an exceptional speaker once a month, who comes and speaks to our community usually at our Palo Alto office. These off-the-record talks are a chance to connect with and network with high profile individuals in an intimate setting. You will also get a chance to interact with other portfolio companies, and people in our network. Previous speakers include: John Doerr, Mark Pincus, Cathy Polinsky, Doug Leone, David Marcus, Alfred Lin, Julie Bornstein, and many more.

Founder Education: We have exclusive workshops and office hours for our founders. We bring in top industry execs and thought leaders that lead interactive discussions focused on building both tangible and intangible skills to make you more effective CEOs and founders.

Social Events: We also host various social events, including happy hours, game nights, Food Truck events, and many others (in both San Francisco and Palo Alto so we can engage people on all sides of the bay). These casual events are a chance for you to have more peer-to-peer interaction with other founders in our network. Look out for an email for the next one!